Monthly figures show there has been a fall in the number of Australian organ donors over the last two years.
Despite programs to encourage more donors, there has been a decline in the rate of donation across the country, according to the advocacy group ShareLife.
In April, there were 20 deceased donors in Australia – the usual April average is about 26 donors per month.
Data from the Australia and New Zealand Organ Donation Registry shows the number of donors has fallen since April 2013.
Sydney man John Williams has been on the waiting list for a new kidney for six years.
“I’ve been waiting for an organ … it’s totally random, it usually takes a long, long time and it depends entirely on tissue match and availability,” he said.
The 70-year-old said his wait was becoming more desperate as every month went by.
“I have a window that’s going to close and if I don’t get one maybe in the next two years, well I’m not going to get one and the implication of that for me, your life expectancy is seriously limited,” Mr Williams said.
He said he was angry Australia was not a world leader in organ donation despite millions of dollars spent on awareness campaigns.
“Our rate of organ donation is pathetic, it’s dreadful,” he said.
Mr Williams is keeping fit and healthy, in the hope of receiving a phone call that could change his life.
“My doctor tells me to keep my mobile with me, because the experience is when you get the call it will be inconvenient and if you’re not available you won’t get it,” he said.
“I keep active. I know if I don’t pass the transplant review [and] particularly if my cardiac health is not good, I don’t get the organ.”
Donation figures ‘tragic’ and vary between states
Brian Myerson, the director of the organ donation advocacy group ShareLife said the figures were tragic for people waiting for an organ.
“Two years now we [have] declined to 367. That is an 11.3 per cent decline,” he said.
“This is at a time where we’ve spent a lot of money and the figures should be going up and instead they’re going down. And this is extremely distressing.”
Mr Myerson said he was concerned the donor rate appeared to be going backwards.
He blamed the low rate on inconsistent processes in Australian public hospitals.
He said doctors and medical staff should be identifying more potential donors.
“There’s such a discrepancy between the performances of different states… some are increasing, some are declining,” he said.
“Those doctors that were put in place and funded, by the Federal Government, to initially identify all the potential organ donors … in 72 public hospitals in the country.”
Chief executive of the Organ and Tissue Authority Yael Cass said more work needed to be done to get all potential donors identified in hospitals.
“The framework is there, but there is variability in terms of outcomes and practice,” she said.
“The current world leaders of Spain and Croatia achieved outcomes after ten years of sustained intensive work.”
She described the reforms as “long and complex”.